


They Matter

by BBJ_3



Category: Luke Cage (TV)
Genre: FIx It, M/M, i shipped this so hard, i'm not over comanche, kind of, not really but come on, shades is bae
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 03:33:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15039785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BBJ_3/pseuds/BBJ_3
Summary: Waking up from a shot to the head, that's not what Comanche expected. Naked and confused by scars that should be holes, Comanche broke out, stole clothes, switched out some homeless black man's toe tag so nobody will go looking for the missing body, found his way across Harlem to Paradise, and isn't that stupid? He should go anywhere else, but it's dark and not really hot or cold, but there's Shades - and he's shook.They didn't get bullet proof skin, but Comanche bets that if somebody kills Shades, that he'd pop back up. It's a sign. A god damn sign that they belong together - not that it's a hypothesis he's ever willing to test.





	They Matter

When you know somebody, you know. Hard and strong - inside and out. The feel of his lips, the taste of his skin, the way he laughs. Comanche knows it. Knows him. So he should have realized when he pushed too far. All those books on the inside - not all were about stocks and finances. Internalized homophobia. Shades couldn't look himself in the eyes. Couldn't admit it - had to roll into the next thing - the closest thing frankly. Not that Comanche doubted Cottonmouth would've tried if he swung that way, but Shades would've denied it to him. At least to Comanche, he can admit something happened inside. 

Mariah wraps around him, pulls him under. She'll suffocate him in the end. Become the monster she wants him to be - the lap-dog boogieman. It's horrible. The leader - the best of them - dragged down into the mud. Bleeding out from the first, hearing "I love you" matters. 

Waking up from a shot to the head, that's not what Comanche expected. In a metal box, the screams build up in his throat. One slam, however, jumps the draw out, and thank god he hasn't been autopsied. The tag around his toe - it can say Darius all it wants. Sitting up, he tosses it aside. Naked and confused by scars that should be holes, Comanche broke out, stole clothes, switched out some homeless black man's toe tag so nobody will go looking for the missing body, found his way across Harlem to Paradise, and isn't that stupid? He should go anywhere else, but it's dark and not really hot or cold, but there's Shades - and he's shook. His knees near buckle because this has to be it. They didn't get bulletproof skin, but Comanche bets that if somebody kills Shades, that he'd pop back up. It's a sign. A god damn sign that they belong together - not that it's a hypothesis he's ever willing to test.

He follows the disaster as it unfolds. Mariah pushes and pushes, and Shades is breaking. It's a tragedy, but the conflict that never leaves is proof - proof that Shades hasn't been the same. That killing Comanche wrecked him, and that matters. It feels like them mattering. When Shades can't kill the woman, it shows the truth. They matter.

She betrays him. He quits. Shades throws up his hands, leaves - hates, curses her existence and see the world for what it is. In the end, whatever he saw in her dies. She tries to play him, and the rifle in Comache's hand keeps her in the cross-hairs. If she moves, if she tries anything - but she doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. They matter. But she brings him up. When Shades throws her - chokes her - almost kills her - it's enough. All is forgiven. She's not worth a bullet. Not worth covering his hands in blood. She screams and coughs, but Mariah can't hold him, and god - isn't he beautiful?

He looks good in handcuffs. He looks better snitching on Mariah than he ever has. Justice isn't served without payment. One day, it won't be them paying it.

And watching Shades go insane - tell everything, admit everything, drowning in the insanity of all he did - that might've been difficult if Comanche knew how to get in to see it, but he can feel it. Feel Shades breaking down. Shades - unshakable, unbreakable Shades. Nobody should've been able to do it, but Arturo - then Mariah. It's all on her. She broke him, and when this is over - when Shades gets what he wants and the rest falls apart, then Comanche will step in, but this time - he'll let it ride. Let them know. Let him dig however deep he needs to, so Shades can feel redeemed again. 

But then they bring Mama in. They're going to have Shades confess right in front of her - break him down further, and that - that's just not right, but he can't get to her in time (should have gone to her before but he couldn't leave Shades - not when he realized the spiraling, the guilt, the regret building up around the man he loved - not when everything solidified that Shades loved him too). When she leaves, goes home to cry - and it takes everything to tear himself away form Shades (who's probably breaking but who he can't touch - not yet). Her eyes when she sees him -

"Darius?" she whispers, and he fears she'll fall, so he wraps her in his arms. "But you - I buried you," she cries. 

"No, Mama, I'm right here," he swears. "Shades didn't -" he did, but that doesn't matter here. "We had to make it look real. I'm so sorry - we should've told you."

She's crying too hard and is too happy that he's alive to question the lies she probably sees. "My baby boy! You're alive!"

He stays until she's calmed. Eats dinner with her, tells her how he has to get Shades out - that this was all part of a bigger plan. When she frets about how she treated Shades, he brushes it off. Says Shades knew, expected, felt he deserved it for the lies, and she cries a bit more, holding him tight - as if her hug could convince him not to leave, and it almost does, but Shades is out there. Alone. Attacked from all sides. 

Only later does he realize they sent Shades back to Paradise. His head screams. Not back to her. Shades can't go back to  _her._ She'll suck him dry. 

But Comanche isn't stupid. He won't get involved. Shades makes it out alive. Mariah goes to jail, and Shades keeps going, but it isn't time - not yet. When Luke Cage listens - starts to make his move - it's brilliant because Shades should be listened to when he isn't curled around himself in self-loathing. But when Mariah tries to draw him back in, Shades walks away, and he's so close - he's almost there. He's healing - though stewing in regret - but he's fixing himself. Patching the holes she made, and when he's all healed up - found his own footing - that's when everything will be right, but the bitch dies (which is good but the fine print and all that shit), so the cops come, and there's no more waiting.

Guns, wheels, cops dead. Shades stares. His eyes wide. His lips parted. The guards' bodies are all around him. Covered in blood, Comanche tosses him the key, and even as he undoes his chains, his eyes remain on the other - on the ghost. There's no telling what he'll do. 

Then hands grab his face. Lips press against his, and they're back. 


End file.
